The desire to remove or avoid unwanted odors is present in almost every environment. This desire is especially evident in the context of consumer products where an unpleasant odor associated with a product can have an adverse impact on the product's marketability, regardless of product efficacy.
In many instances, the manufacture of consumer products involves the use of substances which may create an odor problem if a sufficient amount of the substance(s) is present in the product when it is sold to the consumer. Often, these odiferous substances are removed or become dissipated prior to purchase of the product by the consumer. Nevertheless, there is often a need to combat undesired odors in many products. This need may be accentuated in instances where the time between manufacture and sale of the product becomes shortened.
To some extent, odor problems can be addressed by masking with fragrances or by avoiding use of the odor-causing substance in the manufacture of the product. In other cases, certain adsorbents such as molecular sieves or conventional silica gels have been used to combat odor. Unfortunately, the use of such conventional adsorbents may produce adverse side effects on the product (e.g. discoloration of the product, creation of secondary odors).
Thus, there remains a need for improved adsorbents useful for odor removal applications which avoid adverse side effects such as discoloration and development of secondary odors.